'Founder of New Bedford scalloping' dies at 91

NEW BEDFORD — Myron Marder was a scalloper before shellfish was the city's biggest industry.

ARIEL WITTENBERG

NEW BEDFORD — Myron Marder was a scalloper before shellfish was the city's biggest industry.

Friends of Marder, who died Dec. 24 at the age of 91, remember how the accountant turned fleet owner helped jump-start the industry in the 1960s.

"He was really one of the founders of the scalloping industry in New Bedford," Robert Mitchell, of R.A. Mitchell, said Thursday. Mitchell said both he and his father have been friends with Marder since the 1950s.

Marder got his start in the fishing industry when he opened an accounting office on the New Bedford waterfront in 1946 after serving in the Army during World War II.

From there, he built a fleet of up to six wooden-hulled scallop vessels which led the city's scalloping industry.

"Myron would always have the best captains on his boats because he got to know them when he was doing the books for their boats," Mitchell said.

Mitchell, who owns an engine and generator business, said he always appreciated Marder's business sense.

"He always drove a hard bargain when I was learning the ropes but he never quibbled after the job was done," he said. "He believed that an honest day's work deserves an honest day's pay."

"The fishing industry has its share of scallywags here and there but he was a true gentleman and a true businessman," he added.

Marder's family could not be reached for comment Thursday, but friend Paul Swain recalled that Marder, who was often spotted on the pier in a suit jacket and bow tie, named his ships after different satellites.

Three of the six ships in the fleet were paid for with federal grants from the Saltonstall-Kennedy Act. Swain, who said he worked for the federal government cataloging fishing hauls in the 1970s and '80s, said Marder used his background as an accountant to help other fishermen obtain similar grants.

"He was a well-respected gentleman on the New Bedford waterfront," he said.

Throughout his career, Marder, who retired in 1990, saw the changing tides of the scalloping industry. A man who started in the business before scalloping was popular, he was later chided by ship captains for building wooden-hulled vessels during the 1980s, when steel was becoming more popular.

"That last boat he built, people were saying 'Why are you building a wooden boat?' and he said to them 'Wooden boats made me a millionaire. Why would I change?" Mitchell recalled.

Mitchell said he believes part of Marder's insistence on wooden-hulled boats was to keep wooden craftsmen from going out of business.

"He stood out because he understood the fishermen and knew how to work with them and deal with them properly," Mitchell said. "He would treat them right. He made them money and they made him money. It worked."

Marder is survived by his wife, Ruth, his children, Brian and Daniel Jay Marder, and his grandchildren, Ross, Eric and Brad.